Matthew f



(No Model.)

M. F. CONNETT, JI'. HAND FENCE MACHINE..

No. 448,410. PatentedMar. 17,1891.

Unire STATES PATENT trice.

MATTI-IEIV F. CONNETT, JR., OF DAVENPORT, IOVA, ASSIGNOR TO LEWIS J. BROWN, NATHAN W. WARREN, PORTER I-I. BLANCHARD, AND THEODORE IV. HARFORD, ALL OF SAME PLACE.

HAND FENCE-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 448,410, dated March 1'?, 1891.

Application iiled January 5, 1891. Serial No. 376,785. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MATTHEW F. OONNETT, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at Davenport, in the county of Scott and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Hand Fence-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

Hy invention relates to improvements in hand,wire-fence-making machines of the class 1o in which revolving twisting devices mounted upon gnide-rings are employed for twisting wires in pairs together and over pickets which are placed at intervals between the wires while the twisting operation is being performed, the

pickets and lines of intertwisted wires which hold the pickets in place affording the fence.

My object is to provide such a hand fencemachine of an improved construction which shall render it more simple, durable, and ecozo nomical to manufacture than machines of the same class hitherto in use; and my object is, further, to provide a machine of this class adapted for use in twisting together wires which lare provided with barbs.

In the drawings, Figure l is a broken View illustrating the upper portion of a fence in course of construction and showing one of my improved devices in operation thereon; Fig. 2, a section taken on line 2 2 of Fig. l, Viewed 3o inthe direction of the arrow and enlarged; Figs. 8 and et, enlarged views in elevation and partly sectional of parts of the revolvingtwister detail, and Fig. 5 a broken enlarged end view of the same detail.

A is a gnideframe in the form of aring, strengthened around its outer circumference by a rib t, which projects from between the two guide-surfaces s s. The inner periphery of the ring affords a smooth annular 4o surface r. On one side the ring is provided with lugs q q, through the medium of which the ring is secured at a tangent upon a bar B.

C is the revolving twister, which is made in two separable parts C and O2. The part O is formed alongits outer edge with a segmental laterally or inwardly projecting flange 0, the inner surface of which is smooth and describes substantially the arc of the outer surfaces s s of the ring. Near opposite ends and at a distan ce from the [lange 0 of a little more than 5o the thickness of the edge portions of the ring A are projections or bosses o', which, with the flan ge 0, afford between them grooves einbracing loosely the edge of the ring at one side. On the inner face of the part O are sockets n, and between the said sockets are two elongated openings m, the sockets and open ings being in the relative positions shown. The part O2 has a segmental inwardly-pro jeeting flange Z, coinciding in outline with the 6o rim o, two elongated openings 7c, coinciding in size and position with the openings m, and projections or bosses 7u', coinciding with the bosses 0 on the part C. Upon the face of the part C2 are lugs z' i, which at their free ends 65 extend into the sockets n n of the part O', and a lug i, which extends against the inner face of the part O', the lugs operating to maintain the parts the proper distance from each other, in which position they are se- 7o curely held by a nut-bolt h. W'hen adj ustedY upon the ring A, the inner faces of the flanges 0 and 7i; overlap the edge portions of the snrfaces s s, respectively, of the ring, and the bosses la o the edge portions of the inner face r' in a manner to permit the twister to travel freely around the ring.

In operation the wires y to be twisted, if plain that is to say, unprovided with barbs--are passed, respectively, through the 8o respective openings m 7c and secured to a post. At, say, the next post the wires are inserted into a tension device, which may be the device D. (Shown in Fig. l.) It comprises a har f, provided along' one end portion wit-h 8 5 a series of headed studs f', equidistant apart, and at its opposite end with a stud f2, upon which is a rotary drum f3, having end flanges formed with notches, there being a pawl f* upon the bar to enter and engage the notches 9o of one of the flanges to prevent 'negative rotation of the drum. Secured to the drum is a rope f5. The wires y are inserted into the rtension device by passing them back and forth between the studs f, as shown, and the rope f5, secured to the post. With a suitable wrench the drum is then turned to wind the rope upon the drum f3 until the wires are shown each pair of oppositely-extending.frussufficiently taut. The operator, v.frasping the bar B, gives to it and the ringA,Y bodily, a

circular motion in a vertical plane, whereby the twister, being held to the center of the circle thus described by the wires y, passing through it, as described, revolves around the guide-ring yin one direction, twistingthe saidv wires with each revolution. The pickets ,as` are placed between the wires at stated intervals, as shown, and as the wires are shortened by the twisting operation they pay out through the tension device D.- In lpractice.. two or three rings A and twisters would be mounted one above the other upon a single bar B and an equal vnumber of tension def4 vices provided, so that two or more setsof wires to form a complete fence may be twisted simultaneously.

In order that the twister maybe employed i where one or both of the wires yto betwisted carry barbs, I provide the twister at one or both ends with openings surrounded -by hollow conic frustums c', affording bell-mouthed passages through which the barbed wire maypass without impediment. I preferfto. pro.- vide the twister C with two suchpassagesat opposite ends, and each passage with two bell-mouths extending in opposite directions, so that the device may be. employed to. travel in either direction along the barbed wires with equal readiness. In the construction turns is formed in one piece with the part C- of the twister, and for convenience in operation the point of junction between the frus turns is at about the plane of the center of` the twister.

In constructing a fence with myimproved device ot' barbed wire it is preferabletofprovide the wire or wires withv barbs after the wire has been strung between theinitial post and tension device, so that in the twisting su med.

Thev construction described is subject to vslight modifications in the matter of details which would not depart from the spirit of my invention.

What Iclaim as new, and desire to secure 'by Letters Patent, is-

1. `In a fence-machine,y the combination, with the guidering A, having the Supportin glugs q, of a twister C, in two parts bolted together, mounted to travel on the guide-ring, and having inwardly-projecting segmental rims overlapping the edges of the outer surface ot'avthe guide-ring and projections on their inner faces overlapping the edges of the inner surface of the vguide-ring, lugs upon one of the said -parts extending against the other part, and one or more passages through the twister forthe wire to be twisted, substantiallyas and forl the purpose set forth.

2. In combination, the guide-ring A, operating-.bar B,vtension device' D, and a twister C, comprising two parts C and C2, embracing the edgesof the-guide-ringrand held in fixed relation .with each other by intervening lugs anda boltfh, one or more bell-mouthed pas` sages .through the twister for the wire to be twisted, andia laterally-projecting lip d on the rim of the part C2, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

MATTHEW F. OONN'ETT, JR, 

